A different take on history, the present and the future
by windrunner1053
Summary: This is the first part of my first story, following a state-of-art airship on a series of misadventures eventually culminating in the accidental creation of the changlings, (this part is set in the distant past!) strongly inspired by the "Captain Luna" Tumblr blog. in the theoretical workings of the airships. this is the prologue and first chapter. enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

A different take on history, the present and future

Prologue

Year of our princess' reign 32, 1st day of April, 20, 00 hours.

The sky-ship turned and slipped silently into the cloudbank in the growing dusk. The air was calm and her auxiliary steam engines hummed smoothly, her sails stowed securely. She ploughed on. Anyone seeing her would have marvelled at her elegant lines, equally functional and beautiful, her black hull shining, backlit by a glorious red sunset. Yes, if any saw her they would marvel. But not today, today she slipped onwards, unseen and unheard.

She was the newest ship of the sky-fleet ordered by the princesses after the defeat of Discord, to defend and protect their new domain. The first of these _constellation class_ sky shipshad been simple, slow and delicate dirigibles which were surpassed by gargantuan _tourmaline air vessels_ bristling with cannons. The largest of these was the _Draco_ which, with bowsprit and mizzen boom counted, was almost 800 feet long and mounted 400 muzzle loading cannons. But the _Draco_ had a fatal flaw, she was a big target, and slow. Her _tourmaline_ crystals were barely adequate to lift her bulk and her rig was underpowered making her vulnerable to attack, and unreliable.

Clearly a new ship was needed, plans were drawn, argued over and drawn anew but little over two years later a new ship lifted into the sky, she looked like nothing else ever to leave the ground, her hull was long and lean, a cylindrical fuselage, finely tapered at each end, housed her machine rooms, atop the fuselage was an elegant deck with an open air bridge amidships, a stubby smokestack rose from the deck just aft of this. Two large turrets carrying two 12 inch, breach loading cannons each sat, one forward and one aft. Two slender masts rose from the deck and carried the new fore-an'-aft gaff sails. A heavy keel sat bellow the fuselage with a large rudder at its aft end. Another curiosity about this ship was her size, at little over 300 feet she was far from small, but compared to her sister-ships, she was so small as to be overlooked entirely, less than half the size of the Draco.

But she was deadly. Her shape was not the only ground-breaking thing about her, her triple-expansion steam auxiliary engines could drive her at speeds never seen before, her sails even faster; She could outrun other fighting ships, she could outrun the little yachts of the well-to-do, the traders, the clippers and the merchantmen. Nowhere was beyond her reach. But it didn't end there, none of these remarkable devices would be possible without a truly unique powersource…

Her papers classify her a _tourmaline air vessel_ , but that is not strictly true. A true tourmaline ship uses enchanted tourmaline crystals to stay aloft, this process requires the pure energy contained in the crystals by complex enchantments being transferred to a mundane form of energy, usually light, which in itself takes a certain amount of energy, and some is lost, wasted as heat and sound.

This ship does not transfer the energy, the crystals sit in a turbine, spun up by the boilers. The heat makes the crystals become more active, emitting far more power, and the high speeds of the turbine give rise to an effect similar to that of a gyroscope, making the ship much more stable in flight. It also keeps the ship from drifting sideways, or "drifting leeward" when sailing close to the wind. The power is conducted by a peculiar metal collected from a downed meteorite, this metal has no free electrons in its molecular structure and should not conduct anything, but it does, it conducts only the pure, unadulterated power of the crystals and emits it in a sheer blast below the ship. This energy cannot be detected, for it is not light, heat or sound, simply energy. It does, however have a strange effect on matter around it, compressing space and time underneath it to the point where the ship can, quite literally float in air.

This miraculous ship is known as the _E.A.V Aquila,_

 _Constellation of the eagle, swift and proud_

Chapter 1: Orders (The deck of the E.A.V Aquila)

Log of E.A.V Aquila: Year of our princess' reign 32, 1st day of April, 20, 00 hours.

Weather observations: partial cloud, little to no wind, visibility up to 5Nm uninterrupted

Lat/long: -09° 55' 24' N 0° 21' 03' W

Altitude: 1800ft

Course: 330° (N/NW)

Course made good: 330° N/NW (under engine)

Signed: Cpt. Stormrush

Captain Stormrush sat on deck as he wrote out the log, he had a desk inside, but he preferred to be out in the open, on the bridge. He didn't know why, just did. He guessed it was the same reason that drew him to this way of life, yes, way of life he thought to himself, not job. He thought back to when he was young. A grey unicorn, an outcast. He always wanted to be somewhere else, could never settle. always looking to the horizon.

Now his grey coat was greying further with age, a beard flowed freely around his jaw and lines formed around his eyes when he smiled. But his eyes sparkled with life as he looked forr'ad from his place at the wheel, watching the small crew going about their duties. Few were on deck, no sails to trim, but he watched anyway, as was his duty. He glanced towards the heavy compass binnacle and turned the wheel a few degrees to set the ship on a new course, a course for Canterlot.

He knew not why his ship was to sail there, only that they had been summoned by Princess Luna herself, which he thought a little odd, usually orders were signed by both princesses, but he wasn't captain of the lupus to think things were odd…

His orders were clear enough, approach undetected and set down behind the mountain on which Canterlot is built. Await further instruction. No specified mission, no clue as to a mission. Some training exercise he guessed, that's all they did these days. He thought back to the days when he had been but a cabin boy 'aboard the _Draco_ , back in the early days of the princess' rule, when monsters and villains were feared around every corner, there had been the crystal empire, and the defeat of sombre, the entire fleet had arrived a day after the entire empire had vanished into the snow.

"Fat lot o' good that had done for their image as an elite force." He thought to himself. "And the final straw for the super-heavy Tourmaline Airships. Too big. Too slow. Too heavy. But even with this new ship, the new _constellation class_ there were many who wished the force disbanded, there were no more threats, peace across the land, sure as night follows day. Stormrush suspected that the Aquila would be the last of the line.

He sent a message on the telegraph next to the wheel to the two altitude control rooms, "slow descent" and another to the two engine pods, "half ahead" immediately he felt the motion of the ship change, no longer did she surge through the cloudbank, slowing and descending back to the cold earth. "Perfect" he thought to himself, as the ship dropped through the clouds close behind the mountain, shrouded from sight.

A simple gesture sent a group of young able-seamen went forward to release the heavy anchors, one on each side. The port chain rattled away first, out to 40 fathoms, the same length followed it from the starboard anchor seconds later. Then… silence, no hum of the engines, no whistle of the wind through the rigging, no whirring of the turbine.

The ship settled into a green meadow clearing circled by an impenetrable wall of fir trees. The clearing measured around 500ft from end to end and was around equal in width. A small pool was fed by a stream at the north end and was circled by innumerable wild flowers, many edible. Yes, they could stay here and wait for as long as the princesses saw fit. Perhaps the royal guard were supposed to locate them. Training, that sounded about right. Still, it puzzled him that there was only one signature on the orders on his desk. Little did he know, all hell was about to break loose. And he would be at the very heart of it.

5


	2. A different perspective

Chapter 2: a different view. (Decks of the Draco)

Year of our princess' reign 32, 24th day of March, 20, 00 hours.

Log of E.A.V Draco: Year of our princess' reign 32, 24th day of March, 13, 00 hours.

Weather observations: partial cloud, northerly- force 2 wind, visibility up to 7Nm uninterrupted

Lat/long: -06° 48' 12' N 0° 18' 03' W

Altitude: 0ft (482Ft above sea level)

Course: 172° (S/SE) (projected course)

Course made good: not applicable (grounded)

Signed: Cpt. Adderley

The behemoth lifted off again, the captain twiddling his elegant moustache as uniformed crew rushed back and forth coaxing as much power as they could out of the old ship. Slowly, drunkenly, she started to drift forwards. It was no secret that most thought of the E.A.V Draco as obsolete. She kept the title of flagship of the fleet only because of her imposing size and overall firepower. Only captain Adderley truly believed that the old ship was still useful. It was a belief that he clung to, desperately. He had spent the best part of twenty years working on the ship, fifteen of those as captain, the ship was his life. Anyway, that rapscallion Stormrush and his daft little dinghy might have speed on their side, and manoeuvrability for that matter. But if it came down to it, it would only take one broadside from the Draco to atomize the silly little ship. Heh… so her cannons were nowhere near as powerful, but she had two-hundred on each side mounted in four gun decks. The daft little boat had only two turrets. And much less armour. Word was, her belt armour was less than a quarter of the thickness of that on his ship. Yes, to Adderley, the Draco was just as relevant as when she lifted off for the first time.

The ship was getting underway. Her, admittedly limited, canvas hauled taught, sheeted and made fast. A light wind blew from the north, bringing with it a chill in the air, perfect for the course he set, almost due south, giving the ships archaic square rig some chance. The ship had been patrolling far to the north, near the site of the vanished Crystal Empire. Not a sign, as if there would be, it isn't every day entire kingdoms warp in and out of being. They were being resupplied by a small air-vessel tender when the new orders were passed over, a sealed envelope bearing the royal crest. As was good and proper, the captain had waited to oversee the stowage and distribution of the stores before retiring to his cabin where he could open the communication without prying eyes.

Inside the envelope was a signed letter from the princesses, wait, no… just one signature. That of the elder sister, Celestia, well. That didn't bother him much, could never understand the point of both signing his orders anyway. Anyway, better read the blasted thing, didn't have time to waste!

The orders were simple, make with all speed for Canterlot. No time to waste. Await further instruction and above all, stay out of sight! Something happening no doubt, this time they would be on time! As soon as the A.V tender was sufficiently clear, he ordered full draw from the gargantuan Tourmaline Crystals. A vast crew of ponies ran this way and that manipulating leavers, valves and ropes. The ship lumbered southward, seemingly driven more by the will of her crew than by her straining sails, a week later, The first of April, about ten O'clock in the evening, the ship set down deep in the Everfree forest. It was a horrid place where they landed, a swamp in the bottom of a deep gorge, stagnant water squelched as the ship settled into the mud. At least they were far from prying eyes. Now they must wait. Even Adderley could not imagine what the morning would bring.

A quick disclaimer:

I do not own, or have legal right to use any characters

Or settings within this story which I did not create myself,

Just a refresher in case you don't know, these include Canterlot,

The Crystal Empire, The Everfree forest, and the princesses.

P.S.

to anyone reading this, thank you. Please, this is my first story, feedback is very welcome, leave a review, Private message me constructive abuse is welcome!

Coming in chapter three:

Tensions in the palace reach boiling point with well-known results. But did you know that it also set in motion an unfortunate chain of events that caused the creation of the Changlings? No? me neither…


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